“Arizona’s law is quintessentially un-American: We are not a ‘show me your papers’ country, nor one that believes in subjecting people to harassment, investigation and arrest simply because others may perceive them as foreign. This law violates the Constitution and interferes with federal law, and we are confident that we will prevent it from ever taking effect.”

That is how the American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights groups describe their position in filing a class action lawsuit today against the state of Arizona. The suit challenging Arizona’s new law requiring police to demand documents from people they suspect are in the United States illegally.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona, the lawsuit says the law invites racial profiling, violating the First Amendment and interfering with federal law.

Along with the ACLU, six civil rights groups are involved in the lawsuit:

 Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund

 National Immigration Law Center

 National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

 ACLU of Arizona

 National Day Laborer Organizing Network

 and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, which is a member of the Asian American Center for Advancing Justice.

The lawsuit says the law violates the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution; the equal protection guarantee and prohibition on unreasonable seizures under the 14th and Fourth Amendments; and infringes on the free speech rights of day laborers and others in Arizona.